What should car dealers look for when hiring fixed-operations employees? – John Fairchild

Today on CBT News, host Jim Fitzpatrick is joined by John Fairchild, President of Fairchild Automotive Solutions. Fairchild specializes in retail automotive training and improving every area of dealership fixed-operations.

Fairchild begins the conversation by talking about how car dealers can improve their recruiting process. He says that he encourages car dealers to try running blind recruiting ads. These are much broader ads that attract people from outside the industry. Fairchild says that car dealers must highlight the qualities of the position beyond just the pay. This will help attract high-value hires such as automotive technicians.

Hiring the right fit can be very difficult with limited information given on a resume. Fairchild tells car dealers to require references on the application and to call each reference provided. Previous employers can provide quality feedback to help car dealers determine if the candidate would be a good fit for the dealership.

Many dealerships started to incorporate a pickup and delivery service in fixed-operations during the pandemic. Fairchild says this could be a source of future revenue for car dealers. Retails should be strategic about how they conduct service deliveries and should be conscious of how it will work in their specific market. Fairchild doesn’t believe the industry as a whole will adopt contactless service due to customer demand not being high enough. 

Fairchild concludes by discussing the shift towards dealership employee experience and customer experience. Dealerships are looking to change the work environment so technicians and other dealership staff are happy in the workplace. The pandemic also presented new ways to serve customers, leading many car dealers to invest in improving customer experience. Fairchild says that strong customer service always leads to better profitability.

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